Portable gaming laptop

[mnewsham]

I am currently using the laptop in my sig for school and gaming. However it is a bit heavy to be carting around 4 days a week on public transit. With my spring semester student loan I should be getting about $1,000 back that I can put towards a new laptop, I can also sell this laptop when it gets close to the time to buy. Can anyone recommend a laptop that is 15.6", lighter weight, and the same or better graphics?

Upper limit is going to be $1,500, but the cheaper the better.

 

[Zap]

You probably won't be able to get a notebook that is light in weight as well as better graphics. If you don't actually need the gaming capabilities while you are in class, just get some small notebook or a netbook for taking to class.

 

[mnewsham]

You probably won't be able to get a notebook that is light in weight as well as better graphics. If you don't actually need the gaming capabilities while you are in class, just get some small notebook or a netbook for taking to class.

I don't need better then the 5870m, but equal to would be nice. Possibly a bit lower is fine. And my brothers laptop died today, so I was thinking if he can wait awhile then I will sell this to him and get myself a new one since he can't afford a decent new one for himself.

 

[ther00kie16]

Hard to recommend anything when we don't know how much your laptop weighs and what specs you want. 1080p? quad? blu-ray? Check xotipc as they have a nice collection of gaming laptops with weight shown. However, almost all of them don't have backlit keyboards and anything approaching your 5870m is still quite heavy. Next gen graphics may bring about some lighter laptops. Lenovo's y580 (out in April) will be a hair under 6lb with ivy bridge and 660m graphics. Others like MSI or Clevo may be able to do slightly better.

 

[CZroe]

Happy user of an Alienware M11x r3.

 

[PowerYoga]

how much is "a little heavy?" I was looking at this one a while back myself but didn't get around to buying it.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html

Around 6 lbs and it's a decent machine.

 

[mnewsham]

Hard to recommend anything when we don't know how much your laptop weighs and what specs you want. 1080p? quad? blu-ray? Check xotipc as they have a nice collection of gaming laptops with weight shown. However, almost all of them don't have backlit keyboards and anything approaching your 5870m is still quite heavy. Next gen graphics may bring about some lighter laptops. Lenovo's y580 (out in April) will be a hair under 6lb with ivy bridge and 660m graphics. Others like MSI or Clevo may be able to do slightly better.

As long as it is around the same or better then my sig laptop then it is okay, so at least 1600x900 res. quad core would be nice, but a decent sandy i5 would be fine too. my current laptop is 8.5lbs so it shouldn't be too hard to beat the weight

 

[ther00kie16]

Wait til April for Ivy Bridge then. Lightest 560m (almost equal performance to your gpu) laptop is almost 7lb. Lenovo's y580 will be a whole pound lighter with 660m. You could get one now but I'm not aware of any lighter gamer laptop with a backlit keyboard (very useful) and 5870m graphics level.

 

[fralexandr]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4475/anandtech-mobile-graphics-guide-summer-2011/4

on the nvidia side you'll probably be looking at a 460m (slightly slower per notebookcheck*), 560m (slightly faster per notebookcheck*), 570m or 580m (there are alot of 15.6" notebook choices with the 460m and 560m)
*i used notebookcheck to compare the 5870m to 460m/560m on several but not all games, thus this might not be entirely accurate

whereas on the ati side you'll probably be looking for a 6870m or 69xxm (most ATI offerings are the mid end 6670m, 6650m, or 5650m)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5870.23073.0.html

newegg filter for high end mobile gaming, <$1600, res >720p
newegg is a good place to search for stuff, since their search works well. They all weigh in excess of 7 lbs though
weight isn't easy to lose for gaming notebooks, all those gaming components are heavy (heatsinks being the primary heat dissipation system doesn't help)
a lot of people fail to account for size in portability , as the 17" takes up a lot of table space and is bulkier than a 15.6 though

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4496/alienware-m14x-too-much-by-half/1
if you're actually contemplating bringing your notebook to class, I'd just recommend getting an alienware m11x (1366x768 , 4.4lbs) or m14x (1600x900, 6.45lbs). You'll sacrifice a lot of performance with the m11x, some with the 555m (the 555m is about 40% slower than the 5870), but they have decent battery life and are actually pretty portable
at close to 7 hours of battery life, you probably won't even need to bring the charger around which is pretty convenient unless you plan on buying a 2nd charger to carry around (I find it annoying having to pack and unpack the charger daily on my m11x r1, so I just don't bring it [the charger])

the sager 5165 is a nice notebook for the price
the sager has a 15.6" 1920x1080 screen (base), compared to alienware's 14" 1600x900 (optional, 1366x768 base)
the sager uses the slower 144 core 128 bit 555m, compared to alienware's 144 core 192 bit
the sager has a ~4hr battery life (6 cell only), compared to alienware's a ~7hr battery life (8 cell only),

 

[Zap]

my current laptop is 8.5lbs so it shouldn't be too hard to beat the weight

What? Man up and keep carrying that! I still have a Clevo M980NU with 18.4" screen and weighing probably close to 13 pounds not including the power brick which is literally the size of a brick.

BTW what games do you play? That may give us a hint as to whether going lower on graphics performance may or may not impact performance significantly.

 

[mnewsham]

What? Man up and keep carrying that! I still have a Clevo M980NU with 18.4" screen and weighing probably close to 13 pounds not including the power brick which is literally the size of a brick.

BTW what games do you play? That may give us a hint as to whether going lower on graphics performance may or may not impact performance significantly.

Currently I am only playing SWTOR so going lower is probably not gonna hurt me all the much.

 

[terpsy]

LOVE my Alienware M14X

 

[Meaker10]

You can't beat the MSI 15.6" series (GT683 retail) or 16F2 barebone for size/utility/performance.

7.6 pounds of weight gets you:

GTX560/570/580
15.6" 1080p LCD
2x HDD slots (supporting raid)
9 cell battery

If you want to get the best deal possible contact Donald@PowerNotebooks.com and tell him Meaker has referred you, he should be able to hook you up very well at your budget.

LOVE my Alienware M14X

Shaving off that pound and an inch costs you:

Resolution
Upgradability
HDD slots
75% of your performance gone (compared to GTX580M)

Which is a high price to pay.